UK Police Use Helicopter To Film Couples Having Sex

Five police officers are charged with filming residents without their consent from 2007 to 2012.

West Midlands Police / Flickr

Police from South Yorkshire in the UK have been accused of using a police helicopter to film nude sunbathers and people having sex on their own property, reports the BBC.

On Tuesday, when the trial began, prosecutor Richard Wright called the taping a “gross violation” of privacy and a “gross waste of valuable resource.”

The charges stem from multiple incidents between 2007 and 2012, when a police helicopter filmed several area individuals without prior consent. According to the prosecutor, the police used a powerful zoom-lens video camera and other surveillance equipment to get footage of Sheffield, South Yorkshire residents from their helicopter.

And, as the trial continues, that footage has been released to the court.

One particularly notable video comes from 2007, which shows a naked woman sunbathing in her backyard with her children.

Another video from the following year features a couple having sex in their patio. Yet another clip from 2008 depicts patrons at a nudist camp in front of their RV.

Fast forward another four years to 2012, and the flesh-fixated cops managed to capture even more images of naked people — this time hanging out in their gardens or on the beach.

Only one officer, 50-year-old Adrian Pogmore, plead guilty, but alleged that the couple who were taped having sex were friends of his, and were aware of the videotaping. However, he admits that all the other footage was taken without the consent of those filmed.

And make no mistake, those filmed are outraged. One woman captured on the tapes called the event “a complete and utter violation of my privacy” and added that “it makes me feel sick to think that this took place.”

Next, watch police helicopters being used for good instead of evil in when police warn a group paddle boarders about the sharks that surround them. Then, check out this article about the swimsuit police of the 1920s.